1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to building directory displays employing panels having name strips provided thereon.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to provide a building directory display system wherein a housing is provided which has a front glass door, such as shown in FIG. 1 at 13, which permits access to a plurality of panels 14 containing a plurality of name strips 16. The name strips 16 are positioned on a light diffuser panel 17. T-shaped channels 19 of heavy gauge aluminum are mounted within the housing in rigid fashion. The panels 14 are laid against these aluminum "Ts" and the light from light source 18 shines through the light diffuser so as to illuminate indicia which is etched off of the name strips 16 in a selective manner, the name strips 16 being coated with a black paint or other coating material. Preferably the glass door 13 is darkened. It is important that light not show through any cracks between the panels 14 since such cracks of light would interfere with the overall aesthetic appearance provided by the "black effect" which results when viewing the overall display through the darkened glass door 13. With the "black effect," all of the figures or indicia being displayed appear to an observer to be contrasted against a totally black background. The breaks between the panels 14 are not visible by the casual observer.
With this prior art housing and frame system, the aluminum T members must be strong and are costly to construct. Since such directory display systems for buildings cannot be mass produced due to the different specifications of each purchaser, the time of construction of the prior art system is excessive since each T section must be individually bolted or welded to an exterior panel retaining frame within the housing. Also, the front edge of each of the T sections had to be painted black in order to assure a black field. Furthermore, these front edges where an additional break in the black field which had to be masked by careful painting and alignment of the panels within the display system.
A further disadvantage of the prior art systems was the inability to interchange larger panel widths for existing smaller panel widths in a given display system, since the T sections were welded in place at a given spacing. Consequently, the manufacturer of a standard panel size is almost totally precluded in the prior art systems.